Central Middle School radio club students work on projects

By Beth Bellor for the Daily News

Published
7:20 am EST, Thursday, January 10, 2013

SEAN PROCTOR | sproctor@mdn.netDennis Caney, center left, of Midland, points to a compact disc and talks with Lee Hodges, right, while helping Central Middle School sixth-graders Justin Baker, right, and Samir Ghaith build a crystal radio Wednesday afternoon during radio club. Caney started the club in 2006, and hopes that the members will come away with an interest in the sciences. "We deal primarily with electronics and electricity, which is a little bit of physics, a little bit of chemistry and a little bit of math," Caney said. less

SEAN PROCTOR | sproctor@mdn.netDennis Caney, center left, of Midland, points to a compact disc and talks with Lee Hodges, right, while helping Central Middle School sixth-graders Justin Baker, right, and Samir Ghaith build a crystal radio Wednesday afternoon during radio club. Caney started the club in 2006, and hopes that the members will come away with an interest in the sciences. "We deal primarily with electronics and electricity, which is a little bit of physics, a little bit of chemistry and a little bit of math," Caney said. less

“They work quite well. You can get up to 20 stations on them,” he told the students as he handed out the kits.

Central Middle School is the only school in the district with a student radio club.

The students started with the wooden bases, applying two strips of aluminum tape. “You cannot have any crinkles in it whatsoever,” Albe cautioned.

None of the students asked why because they knew — that would change the connectivity.

Lee Hodges, who worked on IBM mainframes for 40 years, showed sixth-grader Jordan Sutton how to smooth out the wrinkles. Dennis Caney told another group of students, “We put a popsicle stick in here for a reason,” showing them how to remove the backing and smooth the tape at the same time. “It works out really, really nice and smooth.”

Seventh-grader Chloe Rinearson has built a radio before. “I’ve always loved science. Since I was in kindergarten I’ve loved science. I also love meeting other people,” she said. “Building things like this AM radio, talking to people so far around the country — I’ve talked to someone in Arizona, actually.”

Having so many adults on hand meant not only did the students did get plenty of help with their radios, but those who had built them before could get personal assistance with other projects if they wished. In a side room with radio equipment, contacts in Midland, Georgia and Arkansas were made over the hour.

The builders moved on to scraping grooves down the centers of the CDs they would be using for capacitors, then gluing on wooden knobs. The club began in 2006 and builds radios in alternate years, Caney said. “It actually works. They take it home and they can listen to WMPX.”

Like other mentors, he is involved with the Midland Amateur Radio Club, which also pulls members from Saginaw, Bay City and Mount Pleasant. The area club is affiliated with the Amateur Radio Relay League, which coordinates a contest the students will participate in the second week of February.

“If we talk to other individuals, we get one point, but if we talk to schools, we get five points,” Caney explained. The Central students will be joining in only one night out of the five possible so they don’t expect to win, but they are aiming for 100 points to earn a certificate. Students from elementary schools through colleges will participate and if the weather conditions and sunspot activity cooperate, there could be as many as 200 schools out there to contact.

The adults also help the students transition to ham radio at home. There is a standing offer to reimburse the $20 testing fee for anyone who passes the licensing. One girl who now is a freshman passed the exam as a sixth-grader, and equipment was gathered and donated so she could keep exercising her skills.

Sutton and seventh-grader Chris Washington were paired on Wednesday and while there was horseplay as they tested for electrical resistance, there also was serious construction going on.

“I like radios. They’re fun,” Washington said. “Plus I like building stuff and taking stuff apart.”

Sutton said he is taking apart a broken television in his mother’s garage, and at least two other club members admitted “taking stuff apart” was a favorite activity.

“Can I solder it?” Abby Reali asked at the next table, watching her friend, fellow seventh-grader Caoilann Ferguson, who replied, “You can solder the next thingamabobker.”

Caney assisted as needed, pausing when Ferguson insisted, “Stop, just leave it for a second.” He let their dinosaurs vs. emo dragons vs. blue unicorns debate continue uninterrupted as they worked. As the meeting closed and there still were two pieces to put on to finish the girls’ radios, he checked whether Reali, a first-timer, would be returning the next week. She said she would, and he added her name to the club’s roster.

The adults have their vision set firmly on the future. Because Central Middle School is closing, the Midland Amateur Radio Club, in partnership with Midland Public Schools, is raising $37,000 for a tower, lightning protection system, antennas, feed lines, radios and more to establish a club at Midland High School.

Caney said building simple AM radios is about the most complex task the middle schoolers can handle, but at the high school level, students could put four or five transistors together or build sound oscillators; building an FM radio would be a very ambitious project. By the time they are through they will have a good handle on electronics, he said. “They should be able to do some minor repairs to their radio equipment at home.”

While the club hopes to train more people to become amateur radio operators and offer public service, the school district would benefit from the new electronics curriculum, which prepares students for work in electric power, electronics design and repair, and computers, among other fields. Donations can be sent to MARC at P.O. Box 1049, Midland, Mich., 48641, with a designation for the MHS ARC Fund.